The waxed-jacket green gum-booted cognoscenti would not be seen in anything else. Therein were sown the seeds of change. The seal was set when Queen Elizabeth was found to use the car on her estates.
Now in its third generation, the Range Rover marque has developed into a must-have thoroughbred in a league of its own as a luxury SUV capable of remarkable off-road performance that belies its weight and style. On the road, the top end supercharged and sports versions have shown a clean pair of heels to many a surprised Porsche owner.
King however was never happy with its transmogrification from utility vehicle to trend setter and was always at pains to remind an unheeding public of that fact. In 2004, he criticised SUV owners who drove their Range Rovers in urban areas, saying that vehicles such as the car he created were, "never intended as a status symbol but later incarnations of my design seem to be intended for that purpose."
King died after suffering complications following a cycling accident in June still unhappy about the world famous benchmark SUV he had created.
The Range Rover logo, now a familiar sight across the world, first appeared outside the UK with Mohamed Yusuf Naghi in their showrooms and in their corporate identity. The car company’s long association with Saudi Arabia and the challenging conditions that the vehicles face here fitted the image and the engineered build quality that characterizes the brand.
Divided into the Range Rover Sport and the Range Rover Classic, the cars appeal to different but clearly identifiable markets. It is the Sport that dominates sales of the brand in Saudi Arabia. It had, said Naghi’s Philip Braidi, become the new “must have” vehicle and one that made the currently fashionable statement about the owner.
Its unique combination of muscularity (2.7 tons of massively constructed vehicle), power (up to 510 hp) and sheer capability separate it out from the competitors in terms of appeal.
“Anyone who chooses a Range Rover would not consider buying a Porsche Panamera or Audi A8 that compete on price,” said Braidi, adding that the Range Rover brand has a unique appeal and loyal client base.
The classic marketing technique of segmenting the market and growing the pie applies to Range Rover. Younger and well-heeled individuals who want to make their mark in what is essentially a driver’s car seek out the Range Rover Sport.
The Range Rover Classic tends to be bought by an older person who has established himself and is less concerned with personal advertising than extreme comfort and luxury. The Range Rover Evoque is the latest addition to the stable, an entry-level model for those who want to buy into the Range Rover brand but don’t have the resources to buy the top models. The quality of the Evoque might well turn those customers into life-long customers. It is scheduled to arrive in Saudi Arabia in late 2011.
Getting the marketing right, producing an entry-level vehicle and supplying a quality product to clearly identified segments is clearly paying off.
The seven-seater LR4 or Discovery is also more modestly priced and probably not truly in the luxury car market. Emphasizing safety as major selling point, the quality of the interior is a cut-and-paste copy of the Range Rover Sport in a family car.
Jaguar, originally a muscular sports car, has become over the years to be perceived as a 40-year-plus entry-level car. The launch of the XF in May 2009 began to change that tendency.
“It has shifted the age band 18-to-30 away from competing brand equivalents such as Audi and Mercedes and has developed into a distinctive brand for Jaguar,” said Braidi.
He noted that the new flagship XJ, compared with the previous iteration, was a far trendier car than the previous XJ and appeals across a wider age band.The biggest seller is the multiple-industry award winner the XF, partly, said Braidi, because of the modest, entry-level price; it competes successfully with the five series BMW and the E-Class Mercedes as well as the A6 Audi.The E-type derivative XK sports car, though popular, represents only a small part of the Jaguar presence in the Kingdom. Dedicated sports cars across brands are an equally small-niche market even though their pricing is competitive by world standards.The luxury car segment of the auto market in Saudi Arabia is a hotbed of competition, each brand fighting to maintain its foothold. That can only be good for the customer, as the pressures of competition cause manufacturers constantly to review and improve their designs and their competitve pricing.Though relatively small, the luxury-vehicle market is alive and well. Saudi Arabia’s population is predominantely young, and manufacturers are beginning to recognise opportunities in developing fashionable quality at entry-level prices.
